Vajpayee backs stand against rushing into globalisation
He also pledged that nuclear-armed India would honour a treaty declaring Southeast Asia a zone free of nuclear weapons.
Vajpayee said the 1997 Southeast Asian financial crisis showed that volatile capital flows could threaten even vibrant economies.
External prescriptions had not necessarily guaranteed recovery or political stability, he said in an apparent reference to the International Monetary Fund whose help Malaysia refused.
"We need to draw appropriate lessons from these experiences so that developing economies do not remain vulnerable to destabilisation or stagnation from a headlong rush into globalisation," he said in a lecture.
The premier said India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "are on the same side of the socioeconomic divide in the debate on globalisation".
"Opening up our national economies to global markets cannot become a mantra at the cost of equitable development and social justice."
"The passion for rapid globalisation should be tempered by compassion for its unintended victims."
Financial reform
The Indian premier said he and his Malaysian counterpart Dr Mahathir Mohamad, during talks earlier, agreed on the "urgent need" for an early reform of the global financial system.
He said he had last year proposed a global dialogue to ensure that development and poverty alleviation were not sidelined by new rules in trade, investment and intellectual property.
"Such a dialogue should include in its ambit such impediments to development as the international financial architecture and the imposition of impossibly harsh timetables for globalisation."
Vajpayee called for an annual summit-level dialogue with ASEAN, similar to the one which India has with the European Union.
Despite its nuclear policy, Vajpayee said India was committed to the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.
"We respect the status of Southeast Asia as a nuclear weapons-free zone and, as a nuclear weapon state, we are willing to convert this recognition into a de jure commitment," he said, without elaborating.
Vajpayee criticised the Non-Proliferation Treaty, calling it a "hopelessly flawed".
Increased dialogue
After non-nuclear states subscribed in 1995 to its extension, India decided to conduct nuclear tests preceded by an evaluation of the security situation "and to create ... the necessary strategic autonomy and space."
He added: "There is better understanding in the world today of our decision to maintain a minimum credible nuclear deterrent."
Vajpayee sought increased security dialogue with ASEAN.
"Threats like religious extremism, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorism have cast a dark shadow over our region," he said.
The Indian leader left for home this afternoon.
